Means for facilitating the in



I. F. KOLB.

MEANS FOR FACIUTATING THE INSPECTION OF TUBULAR FABRICS.

APPLICATIONTILED AUG.3I. 1921.

Patented Oct. 31, 1922.

1256 m5 firm/i, Zilb W Ma Arman EX Patented Oct. 31 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT orFicE.

JOSEPH FRANK KOLB, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR' OF ONE-FOURTI-I TO HIMSELF, ONE-FOURTH TO JOHN SICHEL, ONE-FOURTH TO GEORGEGRUSHLAW, AND ONE-FOURTH TO ALFRED A. GRUNDY, ALLOIE PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE INSPECTION OF TUBULAR FABRICS.

Application filed August 31, 1921. SeriaI No. 497,202.

To all whomz't may concern; I

Be it known that I,JosnrH FRANK KoLn, a citizen of the United States,residing at lhiladelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in MeansforFacilitating the Inspection of Tubular Fabrics. of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to means for facili: tating the inspection oftubular fabrics.

In the manufacture of tubular fabrics, as, for example, tubular knittedfabric, such as is used in the making of sweaters, it is important thatthe fabric be carefully inspected for imperfections, and the inspectioncan be most efliciently and economically made as the fabric leaves themachine upon which it is produced.

Heretofore, in inspecting tubular fabric as it comes from the machine,it has been impossible to inspectwiththe desired accuracy, since it hasbeen impossible to get a proper light behind the fabric. Customarily alight, as, for example, an electric lamp, is placed ontheopposite sideof the tube of fabric from that observed by the inspector with a view toshowing up any defects. However, the light necessarily must pass throughtwo thicknesses of fabric and the results are unsatisfactory. y

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby a light,'as anelectric lamp, may be positioned within the tube of fabric at a pointadjacent the point of departure of the fabric from the machine, thuspermitting; the rays of the lamp to penetrate the fabric and enableeflicient inspection to be made.

Having now indicated generally the nature and advantages of myinvention, I will proceed to a detailed description thereof withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated apreferred embodiment and in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of a portionof a knitting machine with a device embodying my invention attached.

Figure 2 is an elevation taken at right angles to Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the device embodying my invention.

' Figure 4 is a detail view of a modification of my invention.

Figure 5 is a view of a detail of the device shown in Figure 3. I p Theknitted tubular fabric a is drawn from the knitting machine I; by meansof the tension devicec. A spreader d is pivotally secured beneath themachine and serves to spread thefabric, as is shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Secured to one of the arms of the spreader (Z, within the tube of fabrica, by means of a suitable clamp, as e, is an inwardly extending arm f ofconducting material which has secured near its inner end an electriclamp socket 9 adapted to receive a lamp. A block of non-condi1ctingmaterial it is secured to the outer end of rod f, by means of of aboltwhich serves as a binding post for, a wire 2' leadingto one of theterminals of the lamp socket.

, To opposite sides of the block it are secured guide plates j, by meansof bolts w. The free ends of the plates extend beyond the edge of theblock and are cut out on an arc. Adjacent the free edges of the platesare a rcuate slots Zn, through which extend spring contacts Z, Z, whichextend into contact with each other from a pairof conducting plates 00,a, secured respectively to the plates A wire m leading to thesecondterminal of the lamp socket is connected to one of the conducting platesby means of one of the bolts w, which in turn contacts with the otherconducting plate :0.

Adjacent the free ends of guide plates y, and outside of the tube offabric, is adjustably mounted on a standard 0, a block of insulatingmaterial p, to which is journalled a wheel of conducting material aboutthe periphery of which are a plurality of pins extending at an angle tothe radii of the wheel.

The wheel is spaced from the block p by a block of conducting material8, which is connected by a wire u to a binding post t, to which in turnis connected a wire 0 leading to a suitable source of current. y

In practice the block 27 is so adjusted that the pins 1" will extendthrough the fabric a between: the guide plates j, and between thecontacts Z, Z, forming contact therewith;

In operation, themachine Z) is grounded in some convenient manner,current will then pass from the source through ground to the machineandinto arm f through the spreader, (Z. From arm current will pass tothe lamp through wire 71, from the lamp the current passes through wireon to contacts Z, Z into the wheel g through pins 9 and back to groundthrough the block 8, wires u and o and the source of current. v

The fabric is passed over pins r on wheel (1 which, as the fabric istaken up by the takeup mechanism, rotates and causes the pins to engageand release thefabric, maintaining contact with contactsl, Z, as will beobvious from an inspection of Figure 3.

If, for any reason, it is undesirable to pass the current through themachine, a pair of wheels g, g are mounted on opposite sides,respectively, of a block 1), as shown in Fig. 4,,and an additional setof guide plates and contacts, similar to those described in F igure 3,provided for each of the wheels 9 q. Thus one of the wheels (1 may beused to introduce the current to the lamp while the other serves to leadit off.

It'will now be obvious that in operation the device, in accordance withmy invention, includes a light to'be operated within the walls of atubular fabric, without interfering in any way with the passage offabric from the machine, and thus greatly facilitates the inspection ofthe fabric.'

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is- 1. Meansfor facilitating the inspection ofJ; tubular fabrics comprising in combination, with a tube of fabric, alamp mounted withln the tube of fabric, a contact in electricalconnection with the lamp positioned within the tube of fabric, a contactpositioned without the tube of fabric and means carried by one of saidcontacts adapted. to extendthrough the wall of the tube of fabric andform an electrical connection with the other contact.

to penetrate the fabric and contact with said fixed contact.

3'. Means for facilitating the inspection of tubular fabrics,comprising, in combination with atubularfabric and take up mechanismtherefor, a lamp positioned within the zone surrounded by the tubularfabric, a cont-act, in electrical connection with the lamp, positionedwithin the tube of fabric, a rotatable contact positioned without thetube of fabric, there being'points on the rotatable contact adapted topenetrate the fabric and contact with said first mentioned contact, saidlast mentioned contact being rotated by the passage of the fabric to thetake up mechanism. I

4. Means for facilitating the-inspection of tubular fabrics, comprisingin combination with a tubular fabric, a lamp positioned within the'tubeof fabric,.a fixed contact, in electrical connection with the lamp,within the tube of fabric, a rotatable contact in electrical connectionwith a source of current positioned without the tube of fabric, and aplurality of pins, extending peripherally from said rotatable contact,and adapted to extend through the fabric and contact with said. fixedcontact.

5. Means for facilitating the inspection of tubular fabrics,comprising-in combination with a tubular fabric, a lamp positionedwithin the tube of fabric, a fixed contact, in electrical connectionwith the lamp, within the tube of fabric, a rotatable contact inelectrical connection with a source of current positioned without the tubeof fabric, and plurality of pins, extending from the periphery ofandatan angle to the radii of said rotatable contact, and adapted to extendthrough the fabric and contact with said fixed contact.

Intestimony of which, invention, 1 have hereunto set my hand, atPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, on this 29th day of August. 1921. v i

JOSEPH F RANK KOLB.

Fitness MOLLIE SILVER.

